Ukraine’s hopes for restarting peace talks with Russia have been rekindled after a two-week ceasefire deal in Iran was agreed on April 7.

Bankova admitted that the talks, which were gathering momentum following a Moscow meeting on December 3 with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the US envoys, had stalled after the launch of Operation Epic Fury on February 28. The White House became completely distracted with its own campaign and had little resources to put into the difficult Ukraine talks.

Now a pause in the Gulf War has been called, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hopes the negotiations can resume.

US Vice President JD Vance said on April 8 that the Ukraine war was proving "the hardest" to solve, speaking during a visit to Budapest, but added Washington would "keep on working" to find a solution and insisted there had been "significant progress."

The negotiations to end the war in Ukraine have come down to "haggling over a few square kilometres of territory," he said adding: "I would say to both the Russians and the Ukrainians: is it worth the loss of hundreds of thousands of additional young Russians and Ukrainians? Obviously not. But as the saying goes, it takes two."

The sticking point is over territory and security deals. US President Donald Trump said last week that the US would not sign off on a US security deal unless Zelenskiy gave up the remaining part of the Donetsk region not under Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) control. Zelenskiy has refused until the US security deal is signed and ratified by congress, giving it the status of an international treaty that the president can’t undo.

Kyiv on April 8 again called on the United States to pressure Russia into ending its invasion of Ukraine, saying Washington's ceasefire agreement with Iran showed the success of US "decisiveness."

Zelenskiy said: "Ukraine has always called for a ceasefire in the war waged by Russia here in Europe against our state and our people, and we support the ceasefire in the Middle East and the Gulf that paves the way for diplomatic efforts," he wrote on social media.

The Kremlin also said it now hoped a new round of talks with US and Ukrainian delegations would be possible after Tehran and Washington agreed a two-week ceasefire.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "We hope that in the foreseeable future they will have more time and more opportunities to meet in a trilateral format. We look forward to this".

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote on social media: "American decisiveness works. We believe it is time for sufficient decisiveness to force Moscow to cease fire and end its war against Ukraine."

Observers have noticed that the two wars have been pulled together and increasingly overlap. Zelinsky says that more than 200 AFU personnel are in the gulf training Arab states how to use Ukraine’s advanced interceptor drones to head off attacks by Iran’s Shahed drones.

At the same time Zelenskiy has toured the region signing security agreements with various Gulf states and has been promised investments and financial aid as the Ukrainian budget teachers on the edge of collapse after Hungary vetoed a crucial €90bn EU loan. The US has sent no money since Trump took office and the EU is unable to release the promised funds unless Hungary lifts its veto. Kyiv faces a macroeconomic collapse within a few months if fresh funding cannot be found and the Arab nations may be a source of some of that money.

As IntelliNews has reported, the Gulf War has also brought the CRINK alliance closer together. Both China and Russia have been aiding the ally Iran by providing weapon technology and satellite intelligence data. At the same time North Korea has provided long-range missile technologies. What was largely an economic association before has taken on a military dynamic that runs counter to US interests and increases the security threat to Europe.

"The situation in this region has global implications -- any threats to security and stability in the Middle East and the Gulf amplify challenges for the economy and the cost of living in every country," Zelenskiy added.

Zelenskiy offered his own ceasefire to Russia, saying he was ready to pause strikes on Russian infrastructure if Moscow halted its long-range drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian power plants and grid.

In the past two weeks Ukraine has been launching for the first time more drones at Russia than Russia launches as Ukraine and has been targeting crucial oil and gas facilities, including a concentrated barrage of Russia's Baltic oil export terminals at Primorsk and Ust-Luga.

"Ukraine tells Russia once again: we are ready to respond in kind if the Russians stop their strikes. It is obvious to everyone that a ceasefire can create the right preconditions for agreements," Zelenskiy wrote on social media.

Peskov said he hopes US negotiators will have more opportunities to participate in trilateral talks on Ukraine after Trump committed to a ceasefire in Iran.

"We hope that [the US] will soon have more time and more opportunities to meet in a trilateral format [on negotiations regarding Ukraine.]

One of the practical problems has been the two US envoys tasked with the Ukraine talks, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, were also the special envoys tasked with bringing about a new Middle East deals on Gaza and Iran’s nuclear programme. Reportedly Witkoff played a key role in bringing about the two-week ceasefire deal over the weekend.

Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, expects that the US envoys will arrive in Kyiv after Orthodox Easter, which falls on 12 April this year.